Is spiritual innovation new?

While our modern context may be new, spiritual innovation is not! Some would say that every tradition was once an innovation. 

For example, when the Roman Empire destroyed Jerusalem’s Second Temple in 70 CE, it seemed as if Judaism itself might perish, too. But Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai offered a new way forward: prayer services and text study would replace animal sacrifices and temple rituals. Jewish traditions were reimagined for a new context of exile and Rabbinic Judaism was born.

When priest and professor John Wycliffe commissioned the translation of Latin biblical texts to Middle English in 14th century England, he infuriated the Pope, who condemned him as a heretic. Meanwhile, Wycliffe revolutionized distribution of, and access to, Christian scripture for the growing population who could read in their native tongue. 

And when Greek-Armenian philosopher George Gurdjieff proposed a “fourth way” of religious practice combining elements of Hinduism, Catholicism, and Islam in the early 20th century, critics branded him a syncretist and a charlatan, even as he inspired thousands of nonbelievers to explore the nature of consciousness for the first time.

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Deeper Learning

• Read this BBC article about how religions have evolved over time; starting with our human ancestors developing cognitive and social capacities and growing into the varied and complex traditions we have today.
• Learn from Rabbi Irwin Kula in this interview with the Judaism Unbound podcast to hear more about the transformation of Judaism over time.
• Divine Intervention is a ten-part podcast series about a group of radical Catholic nuns and priests interpreting their tradition to oppose the Vietnam War. 
• Wilfred Cantwell Smith’s classic The Meaning and End of Religion complicates how many Westerners have understood religion and emphasizes the fluid, innovative ways traditions have evolved practices, beliefs, and structures of community over time.
• Karen Armstrong’s The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions explores the development of Confucianism and Daoism in China, Hinduism and Buddhism in India, monotheism in Israel, and philosophical rationalism in Greece.